In the spirit of ideas worth spreading,
TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events
that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.
At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers
combine to spark deep discussion and connection
in a small group.
These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx,
where x = independently organized TED event.
The TED Conference provides general guidance for
the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events
are self-organized
(subject to certain rules and regulations).

Speakers

Gever believes that we need to stop thinking about education as something that we do to people. Tinkering School can be seen as one alternative, but there’s something deeper that needs to be considered, and it may need to start earlier.

Dr. Michael H. Levine is leading breakthrough learning in a digital age. As executive director for The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Michael is currently exploring intergenerational learning through videogames, the phenomenon of “multi-media multi-tasking” and an analysis of children’s search behavior.

Anya Kamenetz covers technology, design, sustainability and social entrepreneurship as a staff writer for Fast Company magazine. In 2005, when she was 24, the Village Voice nominated her for a Pulitzer Prize for her contributions to the feature series Generation Debt, which became a book in 2006.

Billy McLaughlin is one of the great musical comeback stories of all time. For years, he pursued a singular vision: to make the acoustic guitar sound as big as a grand piano but play as fluidly as a violin.

Dr. Melody Moore Jackson directs the Georgia Tech BrainLab. Working with students and faculty from both Georgia Tech and Georgia State University, the BrainLab is focused on enabling people with “locked in syndrome” (completely paralyzed and unable to speak) the ability to control computers and devices using their own brain signals.

Dr. David Fincher is headmaster of Greater Atlanta Christian (GAC), and has been with GAC since 1972, as teacher, principal, vice president and president. GAC has recently become the largest Apple partner school in the U.S. As a result of this partnership, every student has a MacBook and the campus is a tighter technological community with new possibilities for how and what they learn.

Bo Adams is the head of the Junior High School at Westminster (one of Atlanta’s top private schools). His focus is transforming the traditional “egg crate” model of teacher-student relationship into more of a collective workshop, where students and teachers walk hand-in-hand as learners. This requires the skills of finding new questions, rather than the skills of giving answers.

Father Bailey serves as a teacher and chaplain at Blessed Trinity, an Atlanta-area Catholic High School. He has strived to impact the lives of young adults by “meeting them where they are”, even if it means through a Top 40 radio station. He has become widely known for his alter ego, “Father Crunk”, who makes occasional appearances on Q100 (WWWQ-FM).

Vanessa Gallegos is a graduating senior at Central Gwinnett High School. Her early acceptance and full scholarship to Stanford University provides only a small, if impressive, clue about why she has been asked to speak.